"This is a "fantasy scale" rocket, since it comes from fiction, rather than reality. I have long been intrigued with the premise of what if the U.S. had rejected the Shuttle and had instead continued using and evolving established Apollo-Saturn hardware, in much the same way as the Russians have continued using the Soyuz capsule (from the 60's) and the R7 booster (from the frickin' 50's!).
David Portree has written some wonderful articles about this concept:
Presently, there is a show on Apple TV called "For All Mankind" that—kind of—addresses a variation of this concept in alternate fictional history:
But recently I found a story laid out in a discussion board called "Eyes Turned Skywards" that nails the concept and even has some artwork:
I went with BT-80, since I could easily get the Saturn V SLA (LEM adapter) and Apollo capsule nose cone assemblies from Estes. The only variation from the image I had to make was to include fins for flight, so I opted for altered Saturn Ib fins, adjusted to scale. While the Block III Apollo service module is shorter than the original, I went with the original length, simply because people are used to seeing it that length and would be confused, and the shoulder lengths of the cone and transition wouldn't let me go that short. The wraps are based on Frank Claunch's Saturn Ib wraps, modified and upscaled to BT-80. I used fine black pinstripe to create neat and defined edges between the wraps and the orange paint.
The detailed "greebly" parts were based on the K-36 and 2001 Saturn V plastic parts. I have these parts but didn't want to use them yet, so I made balsa copies. Some came out pretty good, some acceptable. The CSM RCS units were too small to carve so I just faked them with bits of wooden dowel. The F1A nozzle is BT-60 with an extra strip of body tube wrapped around the end. It serves a dual purpose of looking like a nozzle and taking some of the shock from the delicate fins when they hit the ground. For test flights I had used an old Apollo capsule with the LES tower broken off but it is friction fit in the tube and will be replaced with a complete nose cone soon. For that reason, the dual 'chute recovery system is in place, complete with 15" and 12" Odd'l Rocket parachutes."
As Lonnie mentioned,
He didn't use plastic parts for all the small details.
The finished model is very impressive.
Lonnie's only regret was using an old can of clear coat to finish the model.
The clear coat yellowed a bit as it dried!
The model is very stable with the added Saturn 1B style fins.
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